Tokyo Two: whaling, activism and human rights

Junichi (right) and Toru (left) working on their defence during their trial (c) Sutton-Hibbert/Greenpeace

Two years ago, Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki exposed a scandal involving government
corruption entrenched within the tax-payer funded Japanese whaling
industry. They are on trial for theft and trespass, and are awaiting the verdict due this coming Monday.

This will be the first blog Toru and I have written together, as up
until recently our heavy bail restrictions have meant that we could not
be in the same room or even talk to each other without a lawyer present.

The verdict in our trial is approaching, and on Monday
6 September we will know what our fate is. We don't really know what the
result would be, all we know now is that it is going to show the status
of Japanese democracy. It's a long way from where it was when this case
started - our investigation to end Japan's whaling.

Support the Tokyo Two

Help Junichi and Toru and join the online march for justiceIn early
2008, following tip offs from a whistleblower and a four-month
investigation into the embezzlement of whale meat by the crew of the
Japan's whaling fleet, we were closing in on evidence that could
finally end this whaling programme.

Annual protest actions in
the Southern Ocean have raised awareness and created international
outcry about this destructive and completely unnecessary hunt, however,
it was clear that the only place Japanese whaling would ever be ended
was at home in Japan. When we intercepted a box of embezzled whale meat,
we knew we finally had the evidence to prove the corrupt nature of the
industry and shut it down by bringing an end to its huge taxpayer
subsidies.

We knew the industry would not go quietly, we didn't expect the harsh reaction that was to come.

At
the start the media strongly covered the embezzlement scandal, and
asked serious questions about the industry for the first time. However,
one month after we exposed the large-scale theft of whale meat and
embarrassed the authorities, they struck back, and had us arrested,
interrogated, detained for 26 days and finally charged with "theft" and
"trespass".

The media were tipped off about our arrest and the
raids of our homes, so when the images of our arrest appeared on
national television the embezzlement scandal was dismissed and we were
immediately seen as criminals by the public.

This has been our image for the last two years - until now.

In
the last week alone we have seen three hugely positive articles appear
in major newspapers around Japan. All of them detailed our trial and the
flimsy, contradictory nature of the prosecution case against us,
discussed the embezzlement and the rights of NGOs to expose wrongdoing,
asked serious questions about human rights in Japan, and, finally,
seriously questioned the legitimacy of the whaling programme.

We
have come full circle and for the first time since the embezzlement
scandal broke there is serious, positive discussion about the legitimacy
of the whaling programme, and for once the arguments are not based on
Fisheries Agency propaganda. Japanese society has changed and we are
finding support wherever we turn.

On Monday the judges will hand
down their verdict, and we are very much looking forward to it. We have
proved our case, and anyone who looks at the facts with a clear mind can
see that we should be acquitted, and that the official case simply does
not stand up to even the most basic questioning.

That said,
given Japan's harsh 99.8% conviction rate, we understand that our chance
of a good result is low, so while we are optimistic that we have
advanced civil society and put whaling on trial both in court and in the
media, we are also anxious about our fate.

Our families and
friends are with us all the way. They can only accept an acquittal as
they know we have committed no crime. They want us to fight as hard as
we can, and were very happy to see the United Nations Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention's support for our case, but there is a definite
feeling that our argument is ten years ahead of Japanese society. This
has been a difficult few years, and our actions have come at great
personal cost, but we have to win for ourselves, for whales, for
Greenpeace and for Japanese society.

We believe that this verdict
is going to be a landmark for Japanese society. Aomori District court
is being forced to make decisions in front of both the domestic and
international audience whether Japan is ready to be a true democratic
society, a society where citizens have the right to speak up in the
public interests - or not.

Everyone we know is with us, and we
could not have gotten this far without their and your support. We have
finally kick-started the discussion about whaling, activism and civil
rights that Japan desperately needs to have. Whatever happens on Monday,
we know in our hearts that we did the right thing, and sooner or later,
we will win this fight.

About Jamie

I'm one of the editors of the website, and I do a lot of work on the Get Active section, as well as doing web stuff for the forests campaign. I've worked for Greenpeace since 2006 and, coming from a background as a freelance writer and web producer, it's been something of an education to be part of a direct action organisation. I'm from Cumbria originally but now I live in north London - I came to study here and somehow have never left.